Take Aways from Day 1 of InsureTech Connect 2016 — Las Vegas

Previously posted here. The first edition of InsureTech Connect has undoubtedly been the best insurance technology conference I’ve attended. Here are two take-aways from day 1 that resonate with me as an InsurTech startup founder.

On building an InsurTech Startup before InsurTech was a buzzword:

Scott Walchek is the CEO of Trov, a microinsurance startup that allows users to purchase short term coverage for individual assets (such as a fancy camera lens or bicycle). He discussed the difficulty of raising money for his InsurTech business four years ago. Though he had several successful technology exits behind him, it took over 500 meetings to round out Trov’s financing rounds. When all was said and done, the company was left with around 70 individuals on their capitalization table. This is a huge number of equity holders for an early stage startup: in Canada, this would make you a public company under securities law. Four years later, the funding environment for InsurTech has exploded: 2015 saw 2.65 billion dollars of venture capital invested into the space.

Perhaps an even bigger challenge that Trov faced in its early days was convincing insurance carriers that it could build a business around a totally new set of data; namely, usage patterns collected via Trov’s mobile application, and that this data would be valuable from an underwriting and product development perspective. It’s remarkable that they were able to pull this off during an era that preceded the current InsurTech hype machine.

On Building Digital Distribution Channels:

My informal survey of the conference sessions suggests that distribution remains the subheading of InsurTech that is generating the greatest activity. Sessions discussing digital distribution channels were standing room only. Interestingly, when one panellist asked for a show of hands, only 10–15 incumbent insurance brokers/agents were present in a room filled with over 400 conference attendees. Also notable was the total absence of the large agency management software providers (such as Vertafore or Applied Systems). It is mind-boggling that companies responsible for such a massive percentage of the software used in the insurance industry are not representing themselves at what is clearly the most important InsurTech conference of 2016. First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win!

Soundbites from the conference:

• “Engagement needs to be thought of in terms of individual moments.” — Scott Walchek, CEO of Trov
• “Carriers need to get their small data in order before they tackle big data.” — Martin Woll of AXA USA
• “There’s absolutely nothing in personal lines distribution that can’t be automated by AI.” — Snejina Zacharia, CEO of Insurify
• “The economics of P2P possibly don’t port over as well to insurance.” — Dylan Bourguignon, CEO of So-Sure (a P2P insurance company)
• “Maybe we should go back to El Gordos Tacos for breakfast tomorrow?” — Scott Loong, CEO of Covera

Stay tuned for a conference wrap up tomorrow and a longer more detailed piece in the near future pulling out some of the larger conference themes and controversies. In the mean time, follow us on twitter @getcovera support us by signing up for Covera’s waitlist at www.covera.co.

Scott

About the Author: Scott Loong is the founder of Covera.co, a digital insurance brokerage that takes insurance renewals off of your to do list, forever.

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